Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations East Texas Red Dirt Pond

I dug a � acre pond two years ago and in beginning the water was soooo clear you could see 6 foot down. Now I have added 150 catfish,30 bass and 200 bluegill and thousand minnows. Now the water is soooo muddy you can't see 6 inches down. My question to the forum is Are the catfish causing the muddy water? Are is there anything I can do to clear up the water?

Jimmy,

Go get a water sample and let it sit in for a week. If the water clears up something in the pond is making it muddy. If the water does not clear up you probably have an ionic balance that is keeping the clay from settling out.

Alum and Gypsum work really well to clear muddy water. Alum will drop the pH so you have to buffer it with hydrated lime.

Gypsum is safe but you have to use high quantities. I'm working on getting some gypsum rock for my pond. You can just throw it in the pond and it does the work itself.

Jimmy, my pond went from very murky (8 inch vis) to fairly clear (24 inch) in about six months after stocking with BG and FHM. I had suspended clay -- the alum cleared up a bottle of pond water overnight -- but it cleared up on its own.

Either you are getting lots of erosion/muddy water in the pond, or perhaps the catfish are to blame, or both. BG, minnows, and bass won't make the water murky.

Certainly would consider spawning activity as causing the muddy water

What KIND of catfish did you stock? Did you get them from a reputable farm? Bullhead and flathead catfish will root in the bottom sediments and really muddy a pond, even 30 Channel catfish, which root around less, could be stirring water if they are really hungry. Wind/wave action on bare banks can cause a lot of erosion and muddy suspension.

As Chris suggested, get a jar of water and let it set undisturbed 4-5 days. If the water clears on it's own, something mechanical is causing the turbidity. If the water does not clear, I'd opt for alum to clear the water as gypsum only helps about half the time or less, but is always a good mineral source even if it doesn't clear the water.

Just from my experience with a similar size pond dug in yellow clay, I stocked 100 CC and my pond did the same thing. Muddy all the time. Drained and cleaned it out and left out the CC when I stocked this time and it is doing fine. Personally, I would catch and remove as many CC as I could and see if it helps. If it is something else, CC are not expensive to stock again.

We put 150 Channel cats in there last July. There are growing like gang busters. I believe they have spawned because we are seeing a lot of smaller fish when we feed and we feed every day.
Thanks for your info.
Jimmy

Thank all of you for your advice and input. I have done a water test and the jar did clear up So I'm thinking it is the CC that are causing the problem.